Superintendent's Memo #175-09

SUBJECT: Appeals of AYP Accountability Decisions for Schools & School Divisions Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

In the coming weeks, the adequate yearly progress (AYP) status for schools and school divisions will be announced. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and accompanying federal regulations permit schools and school divisions to appeal their AYP accountability decisions. Those AYP accountability decisions include:

AYP determination for a given school year; and/or

identification for improvement and sanctions or corrective actions under NCLB.

The Board of Education approved the appeals processes through its adoption of the Amended Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook on May 26, 2004.

Appeal of a School's AYP Accountability Decision

Section 1116(b)(2) of NCLB states that school divisions must provide schools with an opportunity to review the data upon which their AYP accountability decisions are based. If a school believes the proposed decision is in error, the school may provide supporting evidence to the school division, and the school division must review the evidence before making a final decision. The decision is forwarded to the Virginia Department of Education, Office of Program Administration and Accountability.

The guidelines and procedures for school divisions to use in considering schools' appeals to their AYP accountability decisions are found in Attachment A of this memorandum. The Virginia Department of Education must receive appeals filed by the division superintendent within 15 business days of the school receiving official notice of its AYP accountability decision or no later than September 11, 2009.

Appeal of a School Division's AYP Accountability Decision

Section 1116(c)(5) of NCLB specifies that states must provide school divisions with an opportunity to review the data upon which their AYP accountability decisions are based. If a school division believes the proposed decision is in error, the division may provide supporting evidence to the state, and the state must review the evidence before making a final decision. The evidence is forwarded to the Virginia Department of Education, Office of Program Administration and Accountability.

The guidelines and procedures for school divisions to use in appealing AYP accountability decisions are found in Attachment B of this memo.

Record Changes

The school division should ensure appropriate record changes, if any, have been made before submitting an appeal. The Department of Education has sent instructions for online record changes to the division director of testing (DDOT). If you have questions about the record change process, please contact the Division of Assessment and Reporting at darfax@doe.virginia.gov or by phone at (804) 786-3112 (option #2).

If you have questions or need additional information about either the school or school division appeals process, contact Becky Marable, reports and grants manager, by e-mail at Rebecca.Marable@doe.virginia.gov or at (804) 371-0044.